Factor-Specific Dimensions in Person Perception for Same- and Opposite-Sex Friendship Dyads

Summary College students (43 male and 45 female) provided descriptions of themselves, their best same-sex friends, and their best opposite-sex friends, using the Subjective Estimation Blank derived from Cattell's 16 Personality Factor questionnaire. Results indicate substantial factor specificity in person perception. Males' self and male-friend descriptions emphasized leadership and rivalry dimensions. Females' self and female-friend descriptions indicated sensitivity to perceptions of social competency. Males tended to describe females in terms of sociosexual companionship, while females attended to males' probability of material success. Competitive relationships appeared to characterize same-sex evaluations for both males and females, while complementarity was the basis for other-sex evaluations.